Three Kewanee wrestlers advance to state meet

Monday

Feb 11, 2013 at 4:07 PMFeb 11, 2013 at 4:11 PM

Walters, Breedlove, Delgado on to Assembly Hall

Mike Landis

Three Kewanee wrestlers punched their tickets to the state tournament at the Class 1A Stanford Olympia Sectional Saturday.Advancing to Champaign for the Boilers are Bo Walters at 126, Mark Breedlove at 132 and Omar Delgado at 145.Walters finished second in his weight class, while Breedlove and Delgado turned in third-place efforts.After winning his quarterfinal match Friday with a first-period pin, Walters (30-10) handed Tyler Walsh of LeRoy his first loss of the season in Saturday's semifinals. Walters won a 6-0 decision over Walsh, then fell to Jack Lucie of Warsaw in the championship match 8-0.Breedlove (39-3) dropped his semifinal match to Paul Garcia of Prairie Central by a 7-2 decision, but the KHS senior rebounded to win his final two matches and secure his state berth.Breedlove pinned Zach O'Connor of Illini Bluffs at 4:58 in the consolation semifinals and pinned Peyton Roop of LeRoy at the 3:39 mark of the third-place match.Delgado (27-9) followed the same route as Breedlove. The KHS junior lost to Evan Bahler of Prairie Central by a 9-4 decision in the semifinals. Delgado pinned Gabe McKinley of El-Paso in the consolation semifinals at the 1:50 mark and won a 5-4 decision over D.J. Morgan of LeRoy in the third-place match.The state meet opens Thursday with Class 1A preliminary bouts at 2:30 p.m. at the Assembly Hall in Champaign.

Saturday's wrestlebacksCarter Pillen of Wethersfield was eliminated at 120 pounds with a 10-2 loss to Ashton Haton of Oakwood.Andrew Slusser of Kewanee advanced with a forfeit at 152, then was eliminated on a first-period pin by Jeremy Beal of Eureka.Jack Breedlove of Kewanee won a 9-2 decision over Jake Miller of Eureka at 170, then lost to Alex Wheat of Clinton on a first-period pin.Anthony Barnhill of Kewanee was eliminated at 182 pounds on a second-period pin by Jake Vahlkamp of Quincy Notre Dame.